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Persistent Hymen

The mare in this write up was presented because the stallion
was having a difficult time breeding her.She would come into heat and be ready to accept the stallion but he
could not breed her.During phone
conversations with the clients we discussed whether or not the mare was sewed up (had a Caslick’s).The exam found something quite different.

The external urethral orifice is in the vagina of the
mare.This is the opening in which urine
is voided.A piece of tissue called the
transverse fold overlies this orifice.Sometimes in maiden mares the transverse fold continues on both sides of
the vagina forming the hymen.Sometimes
the hymen is complete and imperforate causing breeding to be ineffective.The tissue must be removed before breeding
can occur.

The mare in this case did not have a complete imperforate
hymen but an incomplete one.There was a
solid band of tissue running top to bottom that split the vagina in half.This band of hymen would not permit the
stallion to breed the mare.After
transecting this tissue, the vagina was open allowing breeding to occur.

There are many
reasons why a mare might come up open but a careful examination can often find
the problem.In some cases, like this
one, the answer is quite straight forward and easily fixed.